I am happy to report that  the story has continued in a dramatic way. After reading the story or becoming familiar with it through @wmchamberlain, Dr. John Strange, @drjohnhadley, a Professor of Professional Studies at The University of South Alabama, decided to make my daughter’s blog and experience an assignment for his students.

Shortly after, I began to see a deluge of comments come pouring into Kaia’ blog, which led me to google the term: Kaia Edm 310. I was pleasantly shocked to see over 50 blog posts written about our work.  I also set up a Google Alert to try and filter all of the blog posts that were still being written.

Unfortunately I haven’t the time to comment on each individual blog, so I have chosen to write one comment to be shared collectively with the students in EDM: 310

Dear Students,

It was such a pleasure for me to see your reaction to Kaia’s and my experience. I never would have thought that our simple afternoon activity would elicit so much attention. It just goes to show that people are looking for ways to connect. We so often here people comparing “real” life and “virtual” life as if there is really a difference. When in fact we are all simply living our lives and hoping to share them in whatever meaningful ways we can.

That was the real aim of posting Kai’s pictures online- I was hoping that someone somewhere would find our experience relevant, engaging, human. And by the range of responses it is clear that our story was all of those things.

As we share the daily minutia of our lives, we are able to see how small the world really is, and how similar our experience can be, when we stop and look at what we are all doing. People often criticize social media as a vain and narcissistic way to flood the world with the meaningless details of our lives, but I refuse to follow that route. It is in these very details where we are most human and open for connections.

I think Kaia’s blog is a great example; what started off as a simple way to share pictures with family, has blossom into a portal where students in Missouri are connecting with students in Alabama.

I think this episode demonstrates that using technology should not be some kind of administrative mandate. We can all use technology in various ways. Another misconception of technology is that its user are only interested in various ways we can be digitized. Where as I only see these tools as methods of sharing and documenting my non-digital life. I use these tools to help my daughter understand how a camera works. We speak to our pictures to begin learning about story telling and metaphor. I am simply using these tools to slowly teach her to be aware of her world. We would have gone outside and taken photos with or without social media, but social media has allowed us to connect with you.

We should not want our students to learn to blog, use wikis or go on Facebook for sole purpose of using tools. We must teach them to look critically at reality and find ways to share what they see with others so as to have a better understanding of the human experience. I see the Internet as the new novel, except that we are all authors and we are all constantly writing the chapters one blog post, one tweet, one Facebook update at a time.

So what did you write today? How will you teach your students to be open and brave and connected? How will you help them see that their lives are worth sharing?

Regards,

Jabiz Raisdana

In closing, I would like to add that one of the students from Alabama sent me this great clip of her daughter reading Kaia a book.

Here is our response.

Because my school does not have a virtual school platform like Moodle or Blackboard, we have opted to simply asked the teachers to post pages, links, .pdfs and .doc to our school’s CSM run website. While this presentation of worksheets and online activities is limited in scope, it is still better than nothing.

The American School, where my wife works, is fairing a bit better and has even received some press for their use of Blackboard. For years they have been encouraging teachers to use Blackboard for such an emergency, and while teachers have begrudgingly posted a few assignments here and there the tool has largely been unused till now. Now that the emergency is upon them, however, teachers are scrambling to quickly learn how to become “virtual” teachers, and in doing so are finding the limitations, not only of Blackboard as a tool, but they are also realizing that teaching using online tools is more than simply posting assignments on a web storage space.

Teaching online, or being a virtual teacher, is more than a skill set; it is a mindset and a philosophy. Teachers who are well versed in a variety of tools, not just Blackboard will fair much better in times of crisis and will be better prepared for finding ways to reach their students than say teachers who rarely use technology at all. Teachers who themselves are connect and use many tools for their own learning will barely miss a step. While I understand the unease these teachers are experiencing, I think their apprehension speaks more to the limitations offered not only by blackboard, but of school philosophies when it comes to technology use and pedagogy.

This crisis has clearly illustrated that creating a valuable web-friendly ethos/community of teachers well versed with technology, is the first step in creating a sustainable system to deal with not only emergencies, but in helping to maintain strong ties between teachers and students beyond the classroom. Communicating with students outside the classroom whether through Blackboard or other free online tools must be an ongoing activity for the entire school. If students are used to checking a blog for assignments or working on a Google Doc with a peer, then not being in school will not impact their schooling as much as say a student who has no way to contact their teacher beyond email.

I am not writing this post to make teachers feel bad about their or to discredit any schools. We are all doing the best we can. I just want to point out that using technology is not something that schools can force their teachers to do only in times of emergency. Teachers who are not familiar with a variety of tools that will help them connect with their students will stumble and become anxious when forced to change the way they teach. Schools must imagine different possibilities:

We need to imagine a school where everyone blogs- teachers, students, parents, and administration. Imagine a school that has its own youtube channel and podcast space. Imagine a school that uses chatzy as a back channel even when school is in session. Imagine a school where students are constantly working together using Google Docs and wikis. Imagine a school where almost every knows how to use several tools to connect, communicate, and collaborate. Imagine a school where the school day never ends, and the work can be done anywhere any time. Imagine a school where the teacher uses class time to coach and guide and not lecture or “teach.”

This is the type of school I am trying to build. You can use Blackboard, but the beauty of the Web is that it is all free and available to us all. We simply must be able to take some risks and trust our students to learn from their mistakes.

Here are some examples of what is possible:

I had planned to use this week to get my students started on our online 2.0 journey. I already have two classrooms, one in Canada and one in Thailand, waiting to meet us. We have sketched out some rough ideas of how our three classes will interact, but I needed to start showing my students the tools and skills they will need to make the kinds of connections I want them to make throughout the year. I was going to walk them through each step in class, but due to Swine Flu we were forced to “just do it.”

I was actually a bit excited when I heard we would not be in school. Rather than fumble around with how I would deliver my traditional material, I began instead to think about how I would help my students quickly learn about and use a variety of tools that would help them connect and stay tuned with our class community. I was not interested in posting worksheets for them to complete. I wanted to recreate our classroom online, so we could have conversations. It is this sense of community that I feel is missing from Blackboard.

The first thing I did was launch our class blog. I had planned to start blogging soon anyway, so it was perfect timing. I used the blog as the central place to communicate with the kids. Unlike Blackboard where individual classes are closed and hard to access, a simple blog allows me to share information, media, and much more in an environment that inspires commenting, conversations, and community. The hope was to quickly create an area where we could meet and move onto completing a variety of tasks.

Once the blog was published, I had to find a way to direct the kids to it. Out of 50 students I had the emails of about 29; I started there. I posted a link on our school website under the page for English work, and on the first day I had 81 visits to the blog. Because my students are not yet familiar with RSS, I had to find a way to let them know when there was going to be new posts.

I decided to create a Facebook Fan Page, (I have asked that adults not become a fan of the page yet. I want my students to feel safe and really understand what we are doing, before I introduce our network to the bigger global network.) In three days already has 23 fans. I embedded a Facebook feed in the sidebar to allow students who do not have Facebook a chance to stay tuned with announcements. I can now also send the group updates straight from Facebook. I now have an easy way to share class announcements with the kids in the place where they spend their time online. Instead of hoping that they would check Blackboard, I know that they can simply get an status update telling them to take a survey on the blog as they chat with their friends.

For the first task, I asked students to create Gmail accounts. Later in the year I want to use Google Docs and Google Reader, so I felt that this was a crucial first step. With little help from me, I now have 23 students created Gmail accounts. A few students had problems so I set up a chatzy chat room to answer questions. I experimented with various video conferencing sites and dodged a major bullet and didn’t use Tiny Chat due to some inappropriate material on their site, but found TokBox to be very useful and I hope to use it in the future.

I’ve used Youtube as a way to create videos for my students who are not native English speakers and may not be able to read all of the text on the site. As the students perform each task, I give them a little more to do. They have in three days: created Gmail accounts, commented on a blog, signed up to be a Facebook Fan, responded to some quotes and images, and finally answered a survey I posted from a Google Form.

Not only have I not fallen behind this week, I have actually helped my kids learn real life skills by doing and not just talking about it. By quickly building our online community, I think the kids will better understand the power of these tools and how they can use them to help their learning.

I hope you will stay tuned to what we are doing throughout the year. I have big plans for the year and this is a great group of kids. We will create individual blogs next week, as well as set up RSS on Google Reader, begin to think about tagging bookmarks with Delicious, and we will set up a class wiki and Flickr page. Why have I chosen these tools? I see them as the most vital for my own learning. I use them often, feel comfortable using them, and I really understand their value in creating a network.

Empowering teachers to use these tools is a huge first step in creating a school that can function on or offline without missing a step. Swine Flu or no Swine Flu, I know my class will be connected and ready to learn, share, and teach others. The question now is how do we get other teachers on board and feeling comfortable using these tools?

If you are interested and want ideas on how to be a more effective virtual teacher join us on our journey. We are learning as we go, but would love the company. What do you think? How has Swine Flu affected your teaching? What has worked for you? What has been hard? Do you find Blackboard useful? Do you use any other tools to connect with your students? Let the conversation begin!

I feel that I lost direction and purpose for the blog sometime around March when I left the classroom. I headed down a decisive political path and spent too much energy on topics that may have been better covered on my personal blog.

I just wanted to reconnect with any readers I may still have out there, and say that I am getting ready to come back soon full force and begin exploring my new position as the K-6 ESL teacher at a British school on Doha. My new job should be challenging and hopefully a learning experience for me and my readers.

In other news, I have been reading a lot of great books…

on which I have a lot to say, and I also just got back from IB training in New Mexico. So please stay tuned! I hope to be back full force in August!

Wow! This discussion is at the same time intense and depressing. Once again, I feel like the kid who doesn’t know the right things to say to be considered cool. I am fairly new to the “echo-chamber,” and as a new member I found it at first very exciting, but I am starting to learn what the author means about the tragedy of commons and not just in regards to Twitter.

Even as a newbie, one can feel that there are certain names that always turn up. There are the experts that everyone follows. There are the names that carry clout, and then there are the little guys like me, simply trying to make sense of this all.

Perhaps it is still the novelty of Twitter that makes it worthwhile for me, or perhaps it is my naivety of the Edublog “in” crowd that keeps me out of discussions like this, and for that I am grateful.

I am a Middle School English teacher obsessed with learning and making connections. So it is a natural link for me to use Web 2.0, both for my own learning, but also to try and figure out what can make my own teaching more productive for my students and their rapidly changing world. Which is ironic because as of now, I don’t even have students, but I haven’t let this stop me from trying to use this network of people help me make the connections I find valuable.

I have met some great people on Twitter and made some great connections. My followers are slowly growing and I periodically check to see who they are, not to see if the “popular” kids are watching me, but to see if there is someone out there operating on my wavelength that could prove to be an alley in the war against ignorance. I blogged and shared my ideas when no one was reading, and I will continue to do so when a few kindred souls might chime in.

Let me finished with a quick story: When I was young I wanted to be the next Jack Kerouac, like every wide-eyed idealist, I was going to write prose that would change the world. I quickly realized that I am not that good of a writer, but that has never stopped me from writing. I don’t want to be famous anymore, I simply must write. The same thing is true for blogging. When I started I thought I could get huge numbers of people to read my work and leave 100’s of comments a week, but now I see that I simply need to write and perhaps, I will meet a few people who like what I have to say.

In closing, Twitter may be old hat for the early crowd, but some of us are still getting good mileage out of it. So come follow that…@intrepidteacher

All of my classes have also created Google Accounts, so they could each set up a reader and start subscribing to other student blogs. We have made initial contact with a few classrooms from around the world, while others are still forthcoming. If you have a classroom that would like to connect with us, please send them here.

I want to give them some time to build a foundation, but I am looking forward sending them over to Paul Allison’s Youth Twitter in the coming weeks, as well as trying out Voicethread, maybe some Vokis, and Flickr.

The second drafts of our Labor Art poems have been turned in, and we will soon be ready to post them on the wiki and start to think about how we will record them for oral presentation on our blogs. Perhaps Voice Thread or a simple mp3 recording. Any ideas?

In other news, I presented a session on Web 2.0 and 21st century to a small group of parents last week and they loved it. They seemed both enthusiastic about the possibilities that these tools could have for their kids education and eager to learn more. It was very encouraging. I even had a student begrudgingly attend with his mom, but he spontaneously wrote this the next day. I am hoping that some of the parents who attended are reading now and will muster up the courage to leave a comment here and join the network I mentioned in my session.

I am facilitating the first session of our teachers’ blogging club, in hopes that I can get a few teachers blogging for themselves, so they can learn the basics and truly understand the power of these tools, in hopes that they will use them in their classrooms soon. I can feel a bit of momentum building on our campus.

That’s it for now. I have blogs and poetry to read. If you want to see for yourself the power of student blogging come join us here. We are still learning, but the passion and enthusiasm is growing and that is the most important step to becoming a writer.

So the question is- How can I begin to motivate students to see that their writing is a way to connect to a world outside our classroom? We were looking at some student blogs from Paul Allison’s wiki, and the comment many of my students made was that it was boring to read other students homework assignments. I took this opportunity to remind them that this filing of homework assignments is exactly what many of us were doing. So are their blogs just as boring? They didn’t seem to like that.

I have begun to ask them to take notes in class and reflect on what they learned that day on their blogs, but this is still a very insular way of reflecting and communicating.

Perhaps we could have arrange a group of MS teachers to come up with some  questions for our students to answer collectively, hoping that they will use their blogs as a way to compare thoughts. Even better would be if the kids themselves could come up with questions and problems to answer/solve. This exercise need not be a project, but a simple batch of prompts that a group of classrooms could share.

I am confusing myself so let me give an example. Either through twitter or on any given class blog we would pose a weekly or monthly prompt- What is the most important thing you learned this week and why do you want to share it with a larger audience? Or, what is one issue, global or personal, that you would like to help solve? After reading the prompts, all of our students would answer the question on their own blogs, and we would have a day where each classroom would read and comment on another class’s posts. Perhaps this will lead to a more organic exchange once they begin to build relationships.

What do you think? How can we find a way to connect several MS classroom that are blogging, not for a formal project, but just as a means to build networks?

She said, “Yeah Jabiz but you seem to spend a lot of time on the computer. I want to have a life.” I am paraphrasing what she said. I know this teacher fairly well, so I didn’t take offense to her comment. I am quite certain that she wasn’t implying that I don’t have a life, and this post is not a defense of my behaviors, but it really got me thinking, do people really think that using technology is a choice to be made that opposes having a life? Do people think that tech-geeks choose the vacant lifeless draw of their screens over “real” life?

I see technology as a tool (How many times do we need to make this point?) that allows me to do the very things that make up my life. It is not my life itself. I decided to make a list of the aspects of my life that are important to me. In order to show that technology is simply a tool to enhance my “real” life I will share how I use a variety of these tools for each aspect of my life. The following is what having a life means to me, with or without technology.

First and foremost my number one priority is spending time with my 19-month-old daughter. Contrary to what many non-digital people believe, we techies value authentic “real” life experience just as much as others. I feel that people who are not comfortable with technology see those who are, as somehow lacking the ability to enjoy nature, or the non-digital experiences. Having said that the time I spend with my daughter is the single most important thing that I do. We play, we dance, we sing, we bathe, we eat, we are living in the truest sense of the word. When it comes to my daughter, we use Skype so that she can see her Grandparents on a weekly basis. She already says Grand Ma every time we bring out the laptop. I also use her blog to keep our family posted with pictures and videos. If I do not post pictures every week, I will hear it form several family members.

I have developed a strong love of gardening. I am awed by the organic nature of nature. I love spending time watering my garden, raising plants in my classroom, and simply playing in the dirt. Raising plants is probably the antithesis of technology, but I love using my blogs and video to try and share the satisfaction I get from this hobby. I spend much of my time weekend time monitoring my garden. I am currently growing tomatoes, cucumbers, red peppers, and basil. The pictures I take and share make the experience more authentic for me.

I love to read. I am currently reading the seventh book in a series of seven books by Gore Vidal called the Narratives of Empire. I have been reading these books since June. I have been reading one book after another since I was nineteen. Reading is a fully integrated activity in my daily life. I would survive without books. While I love reading blogs and other websites, I have a profound love and respect for the written word in the form of books. I love the smell of the pages in a fresh book. I strongly believe that literature is the path to human understanding. However, I also see the value in using technology to share my thoughts on what I read and try to instigate healthy discussions. I also use Web tools to keep track of the books I read on sites like Librarything.

I love music. I listen to music every second I can. I love to strum my guitar and record my mediocre recordings. I use technology to share my music with friends and family on Facebook or complete strangers on Youtube. I use sites like Last FM to keep track of listening charts, so I can meet people with similar interests. I use my iPod so as to be sure that my entire collection goes where I go: in my classroom, my bike, or my trip to Tunis. I  use my blogs to write on most of the subjects on this list. Music is no different.

I love photography. I enjoy my ability to capture my unique viewpoint through the lens. I use technology to enhance my photos on Photoshop to create CD covers, magazine covers, or to simply capture the beauty of places I have been and people I have seen. I use sites Flickr to store my work and JPG Magazine to share it with others.

I love traveling and delving into new cultures. I find comfort in writing about my experiences or documenting them in photographs.

I have recently discovered that I love to ride my bike, however limited around town, and I have developed an affinity for filmmaking.  I have combined these two loves by using technology to share my work with over two thousand viewers on YouTube.

The point I am trying to make is that I do not see technology as something I do other than live my life; it is something I use in order to help do the things I love. I feel I have a very rich life raising my daughter, playing music, creating art, writing, reading, and finally the one thing I have yet to mention. Learning.

I use technology to help me find answers, create discussions, compare ideas, and ultimately as a tool for reflecting on how I process information. I use my network to help me form my own views, learn new skills, and better understand the world in which I live. I haven’t mentioned how I use technology in the classroom, because that is the point of this entire blog, but I hope it is obvious that I want my students to find ways that they can use technology to do the things they love. The point is not to use gadgets because they are the new hip thing to do. I am not advocating that people ignore their lives in order to use technology in their lives. The point is to have a “life.” Live it to the fullest and see if you can find ways for technology to enhance what you already do. Live, reflect, share, communicate, connect, change, grow…

Just so I am not misunderstood, I am not promoting that every human act can be enhanced by technology. A good meal at a NYC restaurant, or a quiet walk in the woods, sitting meditation under a tree, scuba diving in the Andaman Sea, or simply sharing a cup of tea with a friend come to mind as life experiences that need no technology to make them any better, but our choices need not be black or white. To respond to the teacher I spoke with today I say, we can use technology effectively and still have a life. It is a matter of understating which tools are right for each task.

The beauty is when I look at a post like the one I just wrote, I realize how these tools have actually helped link all of my interests together. When people ask me what I have been up to, I offer the trademark response: nothing. I say click here or here or here. As a writer, a learner, a teacher, an artist, or simply as a human being I am thrilled to have the tools that allow me this connectedness.

It is time to go play guitar, watch some TV with my wife, read a few pages of my book, and get a good night sleep. I will leave my RSS reader alone for tonight. I will not check on my student blogs or their wikis. I will not respond to emails or play on Facebook. I do have a life after all….

Nowhere is this aversion to learning new skills more evident than in the field of technology and the classroom. Perhaps it is emergence of what seems to be daily innovations on the web, or the demands surrounding its use, or perhaps it is just the fear of not being the expert in our respective fields, but I have noticed a powerful mistrust and aversion by the majority of teachers to learning about technology.

Before I continue let me make clear that it is not my intention to offend or put down the teachers who are not technologically savvy. It has recently been brought to my attention that sometimes my tone can be harsh, one-sided, and non-inviting. Sometimes, it appears, my passion can alienate rather than bring people together. I need to be more sensitive to the feelings of my peers and colleagues, and while this sensitivity may not be obvious by the introduction of this post, I hope to end in a place of collegiality and a focused vision for growth. How can we help teachers use technology to help themselves learn, so they can better understand what the crazy tech-geek is constantly bleating about?

Unfortunately technology seems to often be the line drawn in the sand between the tech-oriented teachers and the “technologically challenged” as they sometimes times quaintly call themselves.  Experience has taught me that forcing people to switch sides in this technological divide can be extremely divisive and bad for a school’s morale.

Upon reflection and reading Working With The Willing, I am realizing that until teachers use the tools for themselves, they will never effectively integrate them into their daily life in the classroom. So what to do? I have decided to start a Blogging Club with my peers to help them better understand the power of Web 2.0. I hope to start small and build our own network and then introduce them to the ever-expanding world of educators that I have had the pleasure of meeting online.

Here is the email I send out inviting teachers to join:

I have a tendency to be quite long winded. I started to type this email a few hours ago, and I metamorphosed into a two-page blog post. I have decided to consolidate my points in a more easily digestible email. Here goes:

Jabiz

Do you have any advice for me or for these new pioneer teachers?

All-in-all life at school has been, is, (I can’t pick a tense, I am so busy) as it should be- very busy and very rewarding. I am extremely happy with and proud of the work my students are doing. And if I do say so myself, I feel I am creating a very student based atmosphere, which allows them to find their own interests and learn. This will be proven in the Rome write-up coming soon.

Then there is the Labor Art project, which is off to a pretty good start. I am in touch with Mr. Mayo and Clarence Fischer about possible collaborations. We want to see if we can get a good look at how kids from different regions understand the role labor plays in their daily lives. In addition to these things, the semester is ending, which means assessments and grades. And I am going on a Week-Without-Walls trip to the Malaysian rainforest with 119 eighth graders.

Wheew! Deep breath….

In Web 2.0 world, I am getting ready to start my kids on blogs, finally, when we get back from the trip. I am reading Twitter and blog posts like crazy, but not finding the time to comment like I want to. Here at IntrepidTeacher, I am at a loss as to who my audience is. I know that the educators with whom I am in contact with and whose work I am reading daily are hearing and reading the same things as me. This is known in the Edublogospehere as the echo chamber. Both terms I am becoming very familiar with, but one of the main reasons for this blog was to spread the echo into my immediate environment and for the staff at my school to also read these amazing ideas. So if you are working with me here at ASD and are a regular reader of this blog, I ask that you read some of the amazing articles listed below, and drop me a line in the comment box that says you have been here. Remember the point of blogging is conversations, communication, and connection.

Evaluating Technology Use in the Classroom

Peering Inside a Cyber Savvy World about Growing Up Online which is generating a lot of talk, and Work With the Willing.

And some great student voices: Tuna’s Aquarium, Student 2.o, and NYC Student Blog.

I wish I had time to comment on all of these amazing educators and learners, but there really aren’t enough hours in the day. Time to get back to work and start writing those summaries and write-ups for my projects.